


Sometimes, dead is better

by Akimfu



Series: Halloween Terrorfest 2019 [6]
Category: The Terror (TV 2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Gen, Ghost Stories, Halloween Terrorfest 2019, Hunters & Hunting, I forgot Mr Diggle's first name he was the Terror cook, King William Island, References to the book, Snow, Urban Legends, maybe a bit ooc
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-01
Updated: 2019-11-01
Packaged: 2021-01-16 02:46:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21263807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Akimfu/pseuds/Akimfu
Summary: She couldn't believe the first time she saw him.She remembered the tales her father told, but Silna always thought it was one of those ghost stories, to tell to the more active children so they wouldn't run far from their homes into the wilderness. But she saw the unfocused figure of a man in fur, lost in the snow, striding towards South.Aglooka.





	Sometimes, dead is better

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for The Terror Discord, helping determine some details.

She couldn't believe the first time she saw him.

She remembered the tales her father told, but Silna always thought it was one of those ghost stories, to tell to the more active children so they wouldn't run far from their homes into the wilderness. Silna was fourteen at that time, a rebellious teenager who was curious about the world outside of her hamlet. On that day, instead of going to English class, she wanted to visit Mr Diggle and eat biscuits with marmalade and listening to him telling her his adventures outside of King William Island. It was snowing and, although it wasn't particularly windy, Silna's vision was blurry because of the fog and could barely see her path in front of her. But she saw the unfocused figure of a man in fur, lost in the snow, striding towards South.

Aglooka.

The only survivor of the lost Franklin expedition. Still to this day, the mystery was never resolved. But a man called Aglooka by the Inuit is said to have survived to what happened to the two ships, Erebus and Terror, and their crew, and the legend says he's still alive to his day, his grief not allowing him to die and he spends his immortal days looking for other survivors.

"Ah yes, Captain Francis Crozier of the HMS Terror.", Mr Diggle sat on his armchair, after he offered warm tea and biscuits to Silna, who had arrived at his house, breathless and scared, "After the leader of the expedition and captain of the HMS Erebus Sir John Franklin had died, Captain Crozier became responsible for the crews of both Erebus and Terror. Everything about the expedition seemed cursed. Food got spoiled before its time, winters were longer and colder than usual... you can say the expedition is the perfect representation, a metaphor, of British Imperialism: so shiny and glorious and perfect in the outside and so rotten and gory and broken in the inside... Queen Victoria's glory was built on the blood and sacrifice of the common folk. Many empires, all empires, are like that, Lady Silence, and Aglooka was one of Greed's victims."

"So you believe that an immortal Irish man is out there?", asked Silna, ignoring that Mr Diggle called her Lady Silence again.

"I never saw him myself, but I've seen other weird stuff with my own eyes and I have some friends who tried to hunt him down."

"Really? Why?"

"I guess pity, foremost. Being punished with immortality... Being stagnant in time... Especially in the Arctic far away from home... It maddens you."

"So you believe your friends saw this Aglooka."

"You saw him yourself, didn't you?"

"I'm still skeptic.", Silna didn't lie.

Mr Diggle laughed, "What's why I like you, Lady Silence...", he paused, "Well, you know Des Voeux, right? Quiet fella like you, great sharpshooter. He claims to have hurt Aglooka with his rifle near the Park. At first, he thought it was a caribou, but he realized it was a person and but not from our world. It gave him the creeps. Aglooka bled and ran away."

Silna never fully recovered from that episode. It seemed only lonely older people had the same vision as her.

The memories faded away over the years, although some remnants were still in the back of mind. Snowstorms made her a bit uncomfortable, mostly because deep in her heart, a need of going outside and looking for a man she never truly met grew the more it snowed.

* * *

The second and final time she saw him was after Mr Diggle's funeral. Silna was now an adult, married and working and living in the suburbs which she thought only existed in the films, far away from her birthplace. Visiting the place where she grew up was very nostalgic and bittersweet, although Harry found it very exciting.

While on a casual hunting trip with Mr Diggle's old friends, it started to snow. Softly, at first, it wasn't bothering. It was October, not very out of the ordinary, so Silna continued. She found a caribou. She quickly pulled the trigger. But she didn't look properly. It was a person. The only thing to do was to not run away and to face the consequences. Lady Silence rapidly walked towards where she shot. She never saw his face before, but she knew she has just killed Aglooka.

**Author's Note:**

> I failed the challenge, but I'm still going to publish the rest of my shorts, throughout the month of November, in no particular order. I really enjoyed doing this, even though I'm a mess.


End file.
